Apparatus for drying bricks, &amp;c.



No. s3|,2|4. Patented Aug.. l5, |899.

o. HowL.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING BRICKS, &c.

(Application led June 20, 1899.)

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No. 63I,2|4. Patented Aug. I5, |899. 0. HOWL.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING BRICKS, GLC.

(Application filed June 20, 1899.) (N0 Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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Patented Aug. 5,1899.

0; HOWL. APPARATUS FOR DHYING BBICKS, &c.

(Application tiled June 20, 1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3,

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

OLIVER HowL, or jrirron, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING BRlCKs, sto.

SPECIFICATION foi-ming part of Letters :Patent No. 631,214, dated August15, 1899. Application nea June zo, '1899. serai No. 721,262. (No man.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, OLIVER HowL, a subject of the Queen of Great Britainand Ireland, and a resident of Princes End, Tipton, in the county ofStafford, England,have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Drying Bricks or other Plastic Articles, (for which I haveapplied for a patent in Great Britain, No. 24,941, dated November25,1898,) which invention is fully set forth in the followingspecification.

My invention relates to apparatus for dry-j ing bricks or other plasticarticles, in whichy the articles to be dried are placed on hollowshelves or supports into or through which steam or other likeheating-medium is admitc ted or caused to circulate to heat lthesu'rface of the shelves on which the articles to be dried are placed. Inapparatus for this purpose and as illustrated and described in theyspecifications of United States Patents No. 611,965, dated October 6,1898, and No. 622,626, dated April 4, 1899, granted to me, the heatingmedium in its passage through the hollow shelves or supports impingesdirectly on the under surface of the top plates or slabs of the hollowshelves or supports, and it has been found .in practice in some cases,especially when steam is employed as the heating medium, that thesurfaces on which the articles are placed become too rapidly highlyheated, which causes the articles to crack. 1

The object of my present invention is to provide means whereby thisdefect is remedied, and in order that my invention mayA be understood Iwill describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, ofwhich Figures l and 2 are -vert-ical sections, at right angles to eachother, of an apparatus similar to that described in my United States nPatent No. 622,626, but provided with improvements according to mypresent invention. Fig. 3 illustrates in transverse section a shelf orsupport for the articles to bc dried, constructed according to myinvention. Fig. 4" is a similar view showing a modied construction ofthe shelf or support. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are similar views showingfurther modifications. Figs. 8 and 9 are sectional elevations, at rightangles to each other, of an arrangement for regulating the heat of-Patent No. 622,626.

divided according to my present inventionv by a horizontal partition ainto two compartthe hollow shelves as required, and Fig. 10 illustratesamodification of the heat-regulating device.

Referring to Figs. land 2, A are thehollow shelves on which the articlesto be dried are placed, which shelves can be madeof any suitable lengthand breadth and may be connected at their ends to any suitable supports.I have shown them as being connected to hollow columns or standards B B,provided with means for circulating the heating medium through theshelves in the manner described in the before-mentioned United StatesEach hollow shelf is ments b b. The heating-medium, which I will referto as steam, is in this arrangement admitted into the lower compartmentsb, the steam so admitted rapidly heating the partition a, and the heatradiating from the said partition gradually heating the top plate of thesaid hollow shelf, on which top plate the articles to be dried areplaced. By thus indirectly heating the upper plates of the hollowshelves by heatradiating from theV partitions a the articles placed onthe shelves are subjected to a gradually-increasing heat until thedesired temperature is attained, which temperature can be maintaineduntilthe articles are sufficiently dried. The partition a can bepermanently fixed in the hollow shelf by riveting or otherwiseconnecting it to the hollow columns B, or the three parallel plates a aa2, constituting each hollow shelf, may be kept at the required distanceapart by distance-pieces c, arranged along their sides, to whichdistance-pieces the said plates can be secured by riveting, as shown inFig. 3. The lower plate a2 may be made disk-shaped in transversesection, as shown in Fig. 4. Instead of, the partition or being fixed inthe hollow shelf it may be constructed as shown in Fig. 5 and arrangedto' slide in and out, one side of the hollow shelf being open to admitof the insertion and removal of the said partition, or instead of apartition, as hereinbefore described, a sliding box, as shown in Fig. 6,or a series of pipes or a coil of pipes, as shown in Fig. 7, may bearranged in each hollow shelf, through which box or pipes or coil ofpipes steam is caused IOO to flow or circulate and heat by radiation thetop plate of the shelf on which the articles to be dried are placed.

Figs. S and 9 are elevations at right angles to each other of anarrangement for regulating as required the heat of the top surface ofthe shelf on which the articles to be dried are placed. B represents oneof the hollow eolumns or end standards constructed as described in theUnited States Patent No. 622,626, to which columns the several hollowshelves are secured so that the steam admitted to one of these columnsmay be caused to How in a circuitous course or otherwise through thehollow shelves A. Passages ff are provided in the hollow columns B,communicating with the lower and upper compartments, respectively, inthe interior of each hollow shelf, the said passages being opened andclosed by means of a sliding valve C, having holes or passages g gtherein corresponding to the passages ff', but so arranged that when thevalve C is in the position shown the passage g in the valve coincideswith the passage f, the passage f being closed by the solid portion ofthe valve, and when the passage g in the valve coincides with thepassagef the passage f will be closed by the solid portion of the valve.By this arrangement when the valve is moved into the position to causethe passages g' and f to coincide steam admitted to the column B willpass into the upper compartment of the hollow shelf and impinge directlyon the under surface of the top plate of the shelf. This may becontinued as long as desired to heat the shelf to the requiredtemperature, after which by moving the valve c the passage f' cau beclosed and the passage f be opened, as shown in full lines in Fig. 0,whereupon the admission of steam will be cut off from the uppercompartment and be directed into the lower compartment beneath thepartition a., so that the temperature of the top plate is maintainedwithout the steam acting directly on the said top plate.

Fig. l0 illustrates a modification in which each shelf is provided withtwo valves C C', the valve C having an opening g for admitting steaminto the lower compartment and the valve C having an opening g foradmittingsteam into the upper compartment of the hollow shelf. By thisarrangement the temperatu re of the top plates of the hollow shelves canbe regulated as required. The heating of the top plate of the hollowshelf can be effected by first admitting steam into the top compartmentby the Valve C', and when the upper plate has been suiiiciently heatedthe said Valve can be moved so as to cut o the supply of steam to thesaid compartment and the valve C be moved so as to admit steam into thelower compartment to maintain the temperature by radiated heat from thepartition a to the top plate, and, if desired, the Valves can be movedso as to admit steam at the same time into both the upper and lowercompartments of the shelves, so that the temperatu re of the top plateof the shelf can be readily resuscitated should it be reduced.

I do not limit myself to the precise details of the arrangements shown,as they may be varied without deviatiug from the nature of my invention;but

I'Vhat I claim isl. In apparatus for drying bricks and other plasticarticles hollow shelves or supports on which the articles to be driedare placed and means for causing heating medium such as steam to enterand pass through the hollow shelves or supports without impinging on theupper plates of the said hollow shelves or supports substantially ashereinbefore described.

2. In apparatus for drying bricks and other plastic articles, hollowshelves or supports on which the articles to be dried are placed eachhollow shelf or support being divided by a horizontal partition into anupper compartment and a lower compartment and means for admitting steamor other suitable heating medium into the lower compartmentsubstantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.

3. In apparatus for drying bricks and other plastic articles, hollowshelves or supports on which the articles to be dried are placed eachhollow shelf or support being divided by a horizontal partition into twocompartments, means for admitting steam or other heating medium into thehollow shelves or supports and Valved means in connection with eachshelf for directing the heating medium into either the upper compartmentor into the lower compartment or simultaneously into both compartmentssubstantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

OLIVER ll() \VL.

Witnesses:

SIDNEY G. Fowmcn, ERNEST Rosa.

IOO

